


gotta have you near me, cause you're the best i've ever known

by pmcculers



Series: I hope you save all you got for me cause, baby, you're all mine [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/F, got too attached to my lovely original queer ladies lol, this was supposed to be a bg fic for another fic but oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 04:23:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3836956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pmcculers/pseuds/pmcculers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>angie is slowly but surely falling for peggy.</p><p>or</p><p>five times peggy makes it to angie's shift at the automat and one time she doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	gotta have you near me, cause you're the best i've ever known

**Author's Note:**

> this is supposedly a little while before what happens on canon.
> 
> it was supposed to be a little background for the fic i plan on writing, but then it got out of hand, oops.
> 
> come talk to me about it @ paigemcculers.tumblr.com if you want :)

I.

The L&L is still mostly empty, just a few early risers nursing their coffees and pastries on the booths, Linda is still settling in the kitchen for the day and you’re alone at the counter – Teresa, the lovely African-American woman who works your shifts with you, won’t arrive until mid-morning. You’ve been in for almost an hour when a man, all suited up, walks in and comes to sit at a stool on the counter, a newspaper clutched into his hand and a suitcase in the other. You’ve never seen him around before, which means he’s probably a new costumer. You plant a big smile on your face and prepare yourself to be his favorite waitress ever, Lord knows you could use another good tipper.

“Good morning, sir. What can I get you?” You try to keep the chirpy tone of your voice at a medium - this man does not seem like someone who appreciates people who are too happy at seven in the morning. He barely nods at you and turns the page on the newspaper his eyes are glued to.

“Black coffee and cherry pie, please, miss.” Not too social but still polite, those are combined qualities that you can certainly appreciate when it comes to male costumers. You frown when you realize you’ll start off on the wrong foot with him, failing to bring exactly what he wants. It’s not your fault the cherry pie is popular and the girl you’re carrying a torch for loves it.

“Sorry, sir, we’re already out of cherry pie. Would you like anything else instead?” He looks up and you brace yourself for whatever rude words he’ll throw on your face. You’re surprised when he simply tells you that it’s no problem and he’ll have whatever red fruit pie you have. You’re very good at schooling your expressions so you’re certain you do not gap at him **too** much, but it still takes you a second to simply walk away and get the man his order.

He thanks you, calling you **miss** again when you bring it to the counter. You answer as pleasantly as your bewildered state allows you, telling him to call you if he needs anything else. Then you go lean against the counter on the opposite end and observe him. It’s probably your favorite part of working at the automat. You get to people-watch all kinds of different people and creating stories for each of them does wonders to your acting process. After a few minutes of observing you conclude that he looks like he’s Hispanic, he doesn’t have an accent so his parents probably immigrated, but he was born in the U.S., like you. His suit looks fancy and he’s really clean-shaven and his hair is properly cut and gelled, you think maybe he’s a lawyer. It would explain his politeness.

“He’s very handsome. Friend of yours?” You startle and look up to find Peggy’s amused face right on the other side of the counter and your face uncontrollably twists in a huge smile as your eyes lock. You look up to the clock on the wall behind the counter and turn to smile knowingly at her. 7:15, on the dot, as usual.

“He ain’t as good looking as you, English. You’re a sight to sore eyes that had to open way too early this morning.” Peggy’s cheeks flush a light pink and you marvel at how she looks at the ground with a small smile, like you’ve learned she does without fail whenever you say something flirty. “And no, his first time eating here, I was just studying him. Hispanic, born here, lawyer… at least two girlfriends. What you think?” Peggy sits on the stool in front of you and takes her time subtly watching him while you go grab her usual cup of black coffee and the last piece of cherry pie you had hidden away.

“Seems about right. Used to be married not long ago I’d say, seeing as he keeps rubbing the mark on the ring finger of his left hand.” You nod approvingly at this new piece of his story as you set down Peggy’s breakfast. She smiles thankfully and digs into the pie.

“You better enjoy that, I had to serve Mr. Handsome Lawyer a strawberry pie just to save this one for you.” Peggy smiles a close-lipped grin at you while her mouth is full of pie causing her cheeks to puff out. It’ll always puzzle you how such a poised and classy woman can have such terrible table manners. Peggy reaches out and grabs your hand, giving it an appreciative squeeze, and you stay still for only a second, enjoying the warmth that grows from where her hand touches yours and to the rest of your body. You recover quickly and throw her a wink before going back to Mr. Handsome when he calls you over. He thanks you for your service and the food, surprising you again since most people just throw the bills on the counter and walk away.

“My pleasure, sir. I hope you come back and I can serve you the cherry pie.” He actually smiles at you this time, and, ok, he probably has more than just two girlfriends with a smile like that. Not that he’s the kind of candy you’re into, but you know what other girls look for. He tells you he just might come back and then flips a couple of bills onto the counter before getting up and leaving. You pick up the bills, letting out a low whistle. If he tips like this every time, yeah, you’d sure be ok with him coming back on all your shifts.  You stash the tip on your apron and pull out the other paper you had stashed there as you walk back to Peggy.

“Barely seven thirty and this guy already made my shift more worthy than yesterday’s,” you mumble quietly to Peggy as you lean your elbows on the counter, your eyes shifting quickly through the information on the pamphlet you snatched up on the way here this morning.

“What have you got there?” You turn it around so Peggy can look at it and her eyebrow shoots up. “Science fair? Never imagined that’s something you’d be interested in, Angie.” She’s got that infuriatingly knowing grin on her face, the same one she gets when you’re people-watching together and she has proof to back up the stories she comes up with. You narrow your eyes at her before tucking the pamphlet back into your apron.

“It’s not, smart-pants. It’s for Giulia, my little sister.  She’s coming to visit next weekend and I think she’d like to go.” You can’t help but smile as you talk about your little sister and Peggy’s face softens quickly, a small grin on her own face.

“You have a sister? That’s wonderful.” She sounds very sincere and earnest and it makes something inside your chest flutter.

“Technically, two brothers and a sister. I’m the eldest and Giulia is the youngest. You’d like her.” Peggy leans forward, her elbows on the counter and her face resting on her right hand as she gives you her undivided attention. “She’s a little shy, keeps mostly to herself around people she’s not familiar with, but she’s **so** smart and kind.” You realize you sound like the sappiest big sister ever, but you’d scream to anyone who’d hear – and probably those who wouldn’t – how proud you are of Giulia.

“She sounds wonderful, Angie. And she enjoys science?” You are surprised that Peggy feeds into your proud-big-sister moment, but she looks genuinely interested and you’re on a roll now anyways.

“Yeah! And she’s like super good at it, too, she has the best grades. She called me yesterday and she was really sad, because there’s a science competition coming up and she turned in a project so she could represent her school. Turns out they won’t send a girl, so they are sending a dumb boy instead of her. According to Giulia his project was really boring and old.” Peggy’s face twists in a grimace at what you assume is how unfair she thinks that is, but you end up only shrugging. “It’s awful and she did let the principal know how unfair she thought it was, almost got suspended for it, too. But you know how these schools are.”

“I went to an all-girls school, so I actually don’t.” You raise one of your eyebrows at that, even as you try to keep the rest of your face as neutral as possible. You’ve met quite a few girls who went to all-girls schools and most of them were the kind to not be interested in any Mr. Handsome. You allow yourself to wonder - Peggy’s never mentioned any men in her life besides her rude coworkers and she’s never seemed bothered by your flirty attitude since the moment you first met, about a month ago, when you made an, admittedly, very forward comment about how beautiful her eyes were. “Most all-girls schools sound like a horror movie, but mine was actually alright. We had quite a lot of incentive to follow the paths we were interested in and excel at them. I have many fond memories of it.”

You tilt your head slightly as you try to decipher the smile on Peggy’s face. It’s a fond one, but there’s something else about it, something secretive and exciting. It’s one of your favorite things about this woman, how since you met her it seems you never get to the bottom of her. There are layers and more layers and then a few more layers and you’ve realized you’re drawn to all of her. More and more drawn each time Peggy peels back another layer willingly.

“That does seem dandy.” You try to prompt Peggy into talking more about it, but she simply keeps that same fond, enigmatic smile on her face, so you move on. “Anyways, since Giulia was so upset by the whole situation, I thought she would enjoy the science fair thing. She always did like going off about things I did not understand and trying to explain them to me.” Peggy chuckles quietly at that and you lean a little bit towards her. “You should come with us. Enjoy a scientific Saturday afternoon?”

“As wonderful as that honestly sounds, I am afraid I can’t afford to not work a Saturday.” You look incredulously at her - what kind of work could she take home from the phone company. “There’s a lot of paperwork I don’t get to do at the phone company during weekdays.” She smiles sort of sheepishly at you and it seems genuine enough, but she had also declined your invitation last week to do a little picnic at the park on Sunday with some of the girls from the Griffith. So maybe Peggy just doesn’t want to spend time with you outside of the automat, which is absolutely her right to not want to and you guess you should just back off and stop asking.

“You work too much, English,” you deadpan it as best as you can while you take Peggy’s cup and plate to the dirty dishes’ tray and you hear her chuckling behind you. When you walk back to the counter Peggy is pushing a few bills towards you, a soft smile playing on her lips.

“I should be going, Angie. Thank you for the pie, as always.” You smile back as you grab the bills and separate your tip from the food payment. Peggy is a wonderful woman, yes, but it doesn’t hurt she’s also a great tipper. You wave her thanks off as you pocket your tip and watch her stand up. “Have a wonderful day, see you tomorrow night.”

“You, too, Peggy. See you.” You wave your goodbye from the counter and watch Peggy walk through the door, the line of her back rigid and her head held high. Your heart’s pounding a bit harder than usual, because she remembers your shift schedule. Peggy Carter remembers your shift schedule and she makes a point of coming to the L&L whenever it’s your shift. If you’re a bit perkier than usual throughout the rest of your day, nobody could really blame you.

 

 

 II.

It’s incredible how the one day you’d like for the automat to be empty for dinner, so you wouldn’t have to deal with rude customers that will only make your day even worse, it’s the day everyone has decided to go out to eat.  The tips have been decent, yes, but not really worth having to force a smile on your face and be pleasant to other people, through the whole night, when you really feel like punching something.

You are cleaning out one of the booths when you spot Peggy walking in, she’s just such a welcome sight in her professional clothes, her pristine hair and make-up – you are absolutely sure you look a mess in comparison. She looks surprised at how busy it is for a late Wednesday night and you watch as she scans the place quickly until her eyes find you, she waves a bit and you nod her towards the booth you just cleaned out. You don’t stay to greet her because there’s this annoying couple that’s called you three times in the last minute, so you walk up to serve them. You do a quick round to get any more orders and you’re sure your face is stuck in a grimace that is supposed to pass as a smile, but you don’t care enough to try to change it. You walk to the counter to ring up the orders and get Mr. and Mrs. Annoying their juices. You quickly settle them at their table and leave without even looking at them, you hear the man grumble something but you don’t make any effort to try and hear it.

“English.” You lean against the table where Peggy is seated, apparently nearly as grumpy as you are judging by the hard set of her jaw and the storm you can see brewing just behind her eyes. She raises one eyebrow and looks you over quickly.

“Angie. I won’t ask you how you are because I’m afraid you might try to stab me with your pen.” That earns her a little turn of your lips and you watch Peggy’s shoulders relax just a fraction.

“Well, you look just as ready to strike as I am.” She gives you an affirmative look and it makes you huff out a chuckle. You still find yourself surprised by how easy and light and **right** every interaction with Peggy feels, and you are incredibly grateful she stopped by, you needed this tonight. “How about I get your order, do a few more rounds and when I come back with your food we can complain about this horrific day?” She smiles softly at you and you feel that pleasant turn on your stomach that you have started to associate with her. She asks for her usual meal, which does not surprise you in the slightest. You’ve learned that Peggy is a woman who enjoys keeping habits. You give her a curt salute and leave her to grump away on her booth.

You spend about 10 minutes walking around, taking orders, serving people and cleaning out tables. The whole time you can feel Peggy’s eyes on you and it’s so distracting, because all you really want is to go sit down with her and stare at her face and listen to her voice. You want that more than you had wanted to go back to the Griffith, lock yourself in your room and get drunk, and you had wanted that a lot just before Peggy walked in. Her stare is so distracting because the idea of just sitting there and listening to Peggy talk until there’s no more words left to say and that she may want that as much as you do, it dampens your bad mood very quickly. And that scares you to death.

The thing is you know Peggy can be a very subtle observer, you have seen her people-watch before, but she’s not trying at all to be subtle while she stares at you. You feel her stare heavily on your body and when you look up and catch her gaze she doesn’t avert her eyes, instead her lips turn up softly every time. Her stare is not the usual inpatient, starving look you get from the customers. You roll your eyes at how ridiculous the fluttering on your stomach is and all because Peggy is there being a jerk with her supportive and attentive looks, showing you that she is there patiently waiting for you. And you feel it, you feel all of it so deeply in your bones it makes you ache. You are very proud to say it takes you a lot to get flustered, but your face is burning in what must be a bright blush.

When Linda calls Peggy’s order a couple minutes later, you use the time to take a deep breath and calm your stupid fluttering stomach. You grab the plate from her, but she holds onto it and you look at her with a tilt of your head. Linda just nods and flicks her eyes in Peggy’s direction and gives you a quick wink before letting go of the plate and you very nearly drop on the ground and start digging a hole for yourself. Transparent is something people always called you because of your no-nonsense attitude, you’ve learned from your _nonna_ how to be up-front about things, but you never wore your romantic feelings on your sleeve like this. And it’s not like you’re afraid of Linda, because you know that Ana, who comes by every day – and spends an incriminating amount of time with her in the bathroom -, is her long-time girlfriend. But you also know the rest of the world **will** care – your mother definitely would care -, you’ve learned from a young age how to keep those feelings deep inside you when in public and Peggy Carter is ruining it.

You walk to her booth and you have half a mind to just put her food down and walk away because this is getting out of control. Then Peggy looks up at you with one of the most beautiful smiles you’ve ever seen in your life and just scoots over, until she’s pressed against the wall, and nods to what’s left of the seat beside her. You guess you’ll be joining her after all. You put the food in front of her and sit as far away as you possibly can while she attacks the plate. You lean your left elbow on the table and rest your head on that hand, trying to at least pretend you’re somehow put together.

“So tell me why you’re in the worst mood I’ve ever seen you since we met, you’ve got my undivided attention.” She manages to somehow enunciate each word clearly even while she’s got a mouthful of rice and eggs and is trying for a small grin. It disgustingly makes you smile without even noticing. She’s doing that earnest, attentive gaze thing again and you’re so embarrassed by how far gone you already are.

“The usual, English. Between yesterday and today I had about four auditions and they all ended terribly.” Peggy frowns while unceremoniously shoving food into her mouth and a drop of sauce ends up dripping from the corner of her mouth. You’re so inexplicably charmed you have to sit on top of your right hand so you don’t reach forward to wipe it away. The smile you give her is very fond, though. “Between ending with disrespectful male producers making disgusting propositions or taking three trains and one bus to find out they had canceled the audition **or** another actress intentionally drenching me with her coffee before I even got to go up, the one when they stopped me before I even got to finish the second verse felt like a success.” Talking about it feels like lifting a weight off your shoulders and it also makes you want to go get drunk like you had planned. “Also, what the hell happened that everyone decided to go out to eat today? This place had never been so busy on a Wednesday!” You cross your arms on the table and drop your head on top of them, maybe you could take a nap until the end of your shift, it couldn’t be much longer.

Peggy’s hand wraps around your arm in a little squeeze before she rubs it softly and your heart very literally skips a beat and you take a shuddering breath, trying to calm down. You tilt your head so you can look at her. She has put her cutlery down on the surprisingly already empty plate and is looking at you with a very soft and understanding smile.

“I’m really sorry, Angie. And you should definitely never go to an audition with those producers, ever again, alright?” Peggy’s face falls and she looks very stern and serious, like she can will you to do what she says with just a look. You don’t doubt she could. Your chuckle is quiet as you reach up to tap your hand against the one she still has wrapped around your biceps.

“Promise, Peggy.” She nods and grabs the napkin to wipe at her mouth, finally getting rid of that distracting drop of sauce on the corner of her mouth. “What about you? What got you grumping around when you came in?” Peggy’s eyes harden very quickly and she grabs the napkin very tightly and you can see the way she clenches and unclenches her jaw. You almost regret asking, but then she smiles a very sad grin, it’s really just a little twist of her lips.

“Let’s say I understand quite deeply how Giulia felt about the science competition. When you’re clearly the person with the best skills set for certain tasks but your boss prefers to give them to one of the men with absolutely no skills, and then constantly puts you on tasks that are not suited for someone with your talents? It can ruin a person’s day, or whole week really.” That’s the most you’ve heard Peggy talk about her work and it was one of the vaguest things you’ve ever heard. You’ve had a feeling about Peggy for a while now and she definitely doesn’t have the **skills set** of someone who works at a phone company at all. You’re not sure what but something is absolutely going on and Peggy’s really good at hiding it. You know a thing or two about hiding parts of yourself and your past so you decide to leave it alone, for now at least.

“That’s terrible, English.” She nods softly while playing with the napkin, her lips are forming a small pout and she looks too much like a kicked puppy for you to do nothing. You grab Peggy’s plate and stand up, leaning on the table. “But, you know, you’re not in school anymore. If they’re overlooking you, you gotta find a way to show them what they are missing by not using your…skills set.” You wink at her before walking away. You go through a few more tables gathering the empty dishes and take them to the kitchen. Linda watches you walk in then quickly looks around before giving you a thumbs-up and mouthing,  _‘She is gorgeous_ ’. You can feel your face bursting with heat, like it does every time she teases you about Peggy, and you quickly hiss, ‘ _Shut up, Linda!’_ at her and walk back out to find Peggy sitting at the counter, staring at you with a raised eyebrow. You come to a halt mid-way before you clear your throat and walk the rest of the way to stand behind the counter, a safe distance between you and Peggy.

“Are you leaving soon, Angie? I could wait to walk you home, it’s late. You live close, right?” You think your heart just might burst right out of your chest any second because the speed at which it’s beating cannot be normal. You hear Linda cackling in the kitchen right behind you and you want to go over there and punch her in the face, but you just gap at Peggy for a few moments. She’s just looking at you expectantly until her eyes flick to something behind you and you turn to see that Linda has stuck her head just outside the kitchen door.

“Don’t worry, Angie’s **friend** , we live on the same house for young women, we always go together and I promise to make sure Angie gets to her room safely.” She winks at you and goes back inside the kitchen. You shut your eyes tight before turning to Peggy with a smile that feels a lot like a grimace so you can imagine how it must look.

“I actually have to wait to help with closing. And Linda’s right, we always go together, you don’t have to worry.” Peggy nods and hands you the bills to pay for her meal. Her lips quirk on one side as she starts backing away.

“Now I’ll just worry that there’ll be two of you out there late at night.” You can’t help but chuckle, because yeah, of course Peggy would worry about two women she barely knows. She smiles fully at you before waving quickly. “Good night, Angie.”

“Night, English.” You watch her walk out into the street and you let out a deep sigh. You’re in so much trouble with this woman. You turn and catch Linda leaning against the doorway, watching you. You cross your arms daring her to say something and she bursts out laughing.

“Do you need the address of my florist to go buy some violets, Angela?” You huff loudly before passing by her to get into the kitchen and start cleaning up – if your elbow collides with her stomach on the way it’s absolutely accidental.

“Shut up, you jerk! Go close the door then come help me clean up. ” She laughs heartily and does what you say. You swear to never tell anyone that, during the couple of minutes it takes her to come back, you daydream about taking Peggy Carter out for dinner and the movies and giving her violets. Maybe you’ll tell Giulia when she comes to visit.

 

 

III.

The lunch rush has been over for almost half an hour and you only got about another half until your shift is done and then a whole free afternoon. To say you’re anxious to just get out of the automat is an understatement. But you’re also worried. You’re worried because ever since Peggy first came into the automat and you two began this friendship, or whatever, she has learned your schedule. She has learned your schedule and she hasn’t really missed any of your shifts since then. Actually, as Linda made sure to mention to you a couple of times, Peggy **only** comes to the automat on your shifts. You’re incredibly flattered but also worried. Your shift is almost over and Peggy hasn’t shown and you’re really worried. Both Linda and Teresa have noticed and commented on it – Linda with a more worried gaze than she probably meant to use. For the last ten minutes you’ve been slumped against the counter, seriously considering pros and cons of just hanging around until dinner, maybe Peggy had mixed your shifts.

“Hey, Angie, your English friend is here,” Teresa mumbles with a smile, passing you and nodding towards the door. You straighten immediately and a smile appears on your face before you even lay your eyes on Peggy.  When you do your smile disappears because of the mess that’s in front of you. Peggy has been clearly walking on the rain because her hair and clothes are completely soaked, she looks like she hasn’t slept for days if her pale face and the dark circles under her eyes are any indication. And she’s got a split lip, the left side of her mouth looks a little swollen and purple-ish and she’s got a **damn** split lip.

You rush around the counter and towards Peggy, grabbing her by the arms as she sways a bit on the spot. She gives you a smile and you’re impressed by how she doesn’t grimace in pain, her mouth has to be hurting like hell.

“I thought I wouldn’t get here before you left.” She has a kind of dopey grin on her face and at the same time it disturbs you to see it on her face, she looks so adorable you have to smile back.

“You did, English. Now come sit because I’m not sure I can hold you if you collapse on me.” She looks mildly offended but lets you guide her to one of the most secluded booths in the corner. You help her sit down and she does wince then, when you look down you realize there’s a tear on the stocking of her left leg and her knee is scraped. “What the hell happened to you?” You touch the side of her mouth where the swelling seems to end and she sobers up quickly at your touch.

“Oh, that little thing? I was walking to work this morning and got run over by a person, you know how rude New Yorkers can be when it’s raining. Got hit in the face with an umbrella and scraped my knee on the ground. It’s really no big deal.” You give her the most unimpressed face you can muster, because really? An umbrella? You know what a split lip from a punch in the face looks like, you’ve seen plenty of them because of your old neighborhood and your family’s business. And maybe you had a few of them once or twice defending Giulia from some girls who could throw mean punches.

“That’s the biggest load of what-I-can’t-tell-you-in-here that I’ve ever heard, Peggy. But right now we need to get you some dry clothes. I don’t think my spare uniform will fit you, but Linda’s probably will.” You pat her on the uninjured knee and try to smile comfortingly at her. She does smile back so you take it as a good sign. “You know you got some serious Latina curves for an English woman.” Some color comes back to her cheeks and she grins to the ground, and you’re relieved by the standard reaction. “Stay here, ok? We’ll get to cleaning your lip and knee after you change. I’m surprised that your co-workers didn’t bother doing it.” You give her a pointed look before rushing to the kitchen.

Linda immediately agrees to lend you her spare uniform and goes to get it while you dig up the first-aid box. She comes back and lets you know she’s put the uniform and a towel in the back bathroom. She asks about five times if there’s anything she can do to help and you just hug her tightly for being so wonderful. You adore her, you really do. She was the first person to welcome you into the Griffith a little under a year ago and you two spent your first night there getting really drunk in her room. She taught you how to sneak alcohol and food into your room and she helped you get your job and you have been inseparable since. She introduced you to Ana, her girlfriend, about two months after you moved in and you told her you’re also queer on that same day. She was there to drink with you and hold up pillows so you could punch them after Mary Stevens got a boyfriend and started pretending she didn’t know who you were, like you couldn’t even be friends anymore. You always wanted an older sister and you feel like Linda is that for you, she’s the big sister you always wanted.

She taps your butt and with the most annoying look on your face tells you to _‘Go take care of your girlfriend’_ and you just roll your eyes at her, you have more important things to do than stay and argue. You walk back out to catch Peggy limping towards the door, you want to roll your eyes again but you’re afraid they might get stuck since you’ve done it so much in the last five minutes. You rush forward and grab her arm as gently as you can while still being able to hold her up.

“Hey, hey, where you going, Peg? I got you dry clothes and we need to clean these cuts.” She shrugs your hand off and you take a step back from her, surprised.

“I’m fine, Angie. I shouldn’t have come here, don’t really know why I did. I’ll just go home and take care of it, don’t worry. I’m sorry I bothered you in your place of work.” You’re completely stunned by her change of behavior and you barely recover in time to grab her hand and stop her from walking out.

“Hey, Peggy. You wanna go home I get it, just let me give you some dry clothes, clean up your cuts real quick and then I’ll lend you an umbrella and you can go. Okay?” She shakes her head and opens her mouth, probably to deny that she needs any help. You know she prides herself on being an independent woman and you respect that immensely and do not want to step on it in any way, but the girl needs some help right now. “Please? I’ll feel bad if I don’t.” She looks at you and you put the most reassuring smile you’re able to create on your face and it seems to work, her shoulders relax and she actually grabs your hand back, giving you a small nod. You sigh in relief and you’re not particularly proud of having to guilt-trip her, but you know the woman can be stubborn and you weren’t about to let her walk back out into the rain like that.

“Thank you. Come on, let’s get you changed first.” You point towards the back of the automat and hold tightly to the first-aid box in one of your hands while you use the other to hold Peggy’s hand and try to give her some support. You’re surprised when Peggy lets go of your hand to wrap her arm around yours, but it does make it easier to help her walk over to the bathroom. You realize some of the costumers are watching you curiously, but you pay them no mind, you’re on a mission here. When you finally get there Peggy’s got a pained expression on her face from the walk and you kind of really want to hug her, but you simply hold the bathroom door open to her. “There’s a towel and Linda’s uniform hanging on the door for you. You need some help?” You try to block all the images that come to mind as you make your offer, relaxing immensely when she shakes her head. “Okay, I’ll be right here, if you need anything call out.” Peggy gives you a small smile and you wonder if her pink cheeks mean she’s getting some color back on her face or that she felt as awkward as you did.

It takes Peggy about ten minutes to change. Ten minutes that you spend leaning against the wall, wondering what kind of trouble she’s gotten herself into. Eating your nails and questioning if you’re friends enough for you to call her out on it, to make her talk to you. If there’s someone hurting her you’re sure you could convince your family to send some people to take care of it. Not that you’d want to, you always hated asking their help because it always got you involved in their shady business. But you’d definitely do it for Peggy. You’d go work in the restaurant and help your dad with their cars on the weekends if it meant you never have to see Peggy like this again.

When you hear the door being opened you straighten up and put a reassuring smile on your face, you want Peggy to feel comfortable with you. When it opens completely and you get to see Peggy you can feel your jaw dropping in slow motion. You clutch the first-aid box tightly into your hands and will your heart to stop beating so wildly because you’re sure she’ll be able to hear it soon. You never imagined you’d find the L&L uniform attractive, but **jesus** , you’re afraid Peggy could make everything look attractive, she’s that kind of girl. She’s got the skirt on, without the apron, and you notice she hasn’t tried to put her stockings back on and your breath falters at how smooth her legs would probably feel under your fingertips. You knew she had a gorgeous figure full of curves, but as uniforms are designed to do they accentuate her curves and you feel absolutely weak on the knees. Your eyes keep traveling up and you realize you’re acting like a creep, but you see that Peggy has decided to leave the top three buttons of the shirt unbuttoned and you can see a bit of her black bra wrapped around a full breast. You close your eyes tight and swallow hard as you will the images of Peggy’s body away from your mind, she’s a friend who needs your help.

“Angie, are you okay?” You open your eyes to Peggy’s worried face, she’s got a bit more color in it now but she’s still more pale than usual. Her hair has dried out a little and you notice that her natural hair is just a little bit wavy and you desperately want to run your hands through it. You shake your head and put the smile back on, this isn’t the time to go crazy over your attraction to her.

“Yeah, just fine. Come on, sit on the toilet and let me take care of your lip and your knee.” You walk into the bathroom behind Peggy and you are surprised when she obeys and sits without complaint. You put the first-aid box on her lap and open it, taking out the antiseptic solution and some gauze. You put some of the solution in the gauze then gently cup Peggy’s face to hold it still as you dab it against her lip. She clenches her jaw but doesn’t make a single sound. You moisten the other side as well and make sure that you’ve cleaned her lip as well as you can. You rummage through the box until you can find some butterfly stitches. Peggy rolls her eyes at you and you laugh a little bit before carefully placing two of them on the cut on her lip. “You look adorable, English.” She huffs and rolls her eyes a bit more, but there’s a small smile playing on her lips. She already looks a bit better and you feel so incredibly relieved. You take a deep breath and kneel before her, bringing the box down with you, you keep your eyes strictly either on her knee or on the box. You place the gauze under the scrap on her knee and drop some of the solution directly on it, this time Peggy takes an audible deep breath, but reacts no further than that. You dab at it to clean the pus that comes out, apparently the wound was a little worse than you thought. You repeat the process with a clean gauze and it comes back looking clean. You put some antibiotic ointment on the wound before covering it with gauze and some adhesive tape. You put the items back into the box and throw the trash into the garbage can before tapping Peggy’s uninjured knee and standing up. “There you go, good as new.” You wash your hands on the sink and watch as Peggy tests putting weight on her knee, it does seem like she feels better already. You grab a paper bag and quickly stuff Peggy’s wet clothes in it.

“Thank you, Angie. This was wonderful of you.” She smiles at you and reaches forward to pull you into a hug. You embrace her very carefully at first but when you take a deep breath Peggy smells like rain and a bit like roses and you can’t help but relax further into the embrace. She’s smiling sheepishly when she pulls back. You smile back and reach into the box to grab a pill before giving her purse and the paper bag to her. You take her hand and pull her out of the bathroom.

“It was my pleasure. Come, we’ll get you something to take this ibuprofen with then you’ll go home, sleep it off and you’ll feel much better tomorrow.” When you walk back out you see that Linda is covering the counter for you and she beckons you over. She smiles her kindest smile at Peggy then pulls out a glass of orange juice and a piece of chocolate cake.

“I regretfully inform that we ended up giving away the piece of cherry pie that Angie usually saves for you, but I thought you could use a pick me up and, I mean, you can’t go wrong with chocolate, right?” You kind of really want to kiss Linda for being her wonderful self. She watches expectantly as Peggy looks from her to the glass of juice and the piece of cake, then smiles that wonderful soft smile she does sometimes and sits on a stool at the counter.

“Chocolate is wonderful, thank you, Linda.” Linda gives you both a bright smile before walking to the other end of the counter. You sit beside Peggy and grab her hand, placing the ibuprofen in it and nodding to the glass of juice. She drinks it quietly and starts digging into the cake. She hums appreciatively at the first bite then unceremoniously starts shoving it into her mouth. Well, that looks a lot like the usual Peggy, but you’re still **worried** and you just can’t help yourself.

“You know, if you’re in some kind of trouble you can tell me, Peggy. I know some people that can help you out. No questions asked.” Peggy turns to study you with a raised eyebrow as she finishes chewing a mouthful of cake. She swallows it and stares you down for a few more seconds before a tiny grin curls on her lips.

“You **know** people?” She laughs, throwing her head back a bit, a bubbly kind of laugh that has you instantly charmed – even if you feel like you should be a bit offended. “Thank you, Angie, really, but I am fine and I’m not in any kind of trouble.” Right, you’ll pretend you believe her and she’ll pretend she believes you do.

“Pfft, yeah, right.” You watch her as she finishes the cake and she does look like 62% percent better, only the side of her mouth is swelling more and getting a darker purple. “Listen, as soon as you get home you put some ice on that lip, yeah? It’s swelling and purple-ing.” She looks at you in amusement.

“That’s not a real word.” You shrug your shoulders and just grin at her as she shakes her head. Peggy then gestures Linda over to where you both are and fishes for some bills from her purse, handing them over to Linda who just shakes her head.

“They are on the house, dear, we’re just glad you’re feeling better.” She smiles at Peggy and pats her hand softly. Peggy just nods and smiles back.

“You don’t have to worry, I promise to bring your uniform back, completely clean and as soon as possible.” Linda just laughs and waves her off.

“I’m not worried about it, I’m sure it won’t be long before I see you again.” She walks away with only a little glance in your direction and you’re so grateful she’s decided to not embarrass you today. Peggy stands up, grabs her purse and the bag before turning to you, incredibly serious.

“Again, I’m very sorry to bother you like this at your place of work, Angie.” You roll your eyes and wave her off.

“I’m supposed to be the dramatic one, English. It’s okay, I’d just rather finish my shift next time with just the cake part, without all the patching up, okay?” Linda quietly cleans out Peggy’s plate and replaces it with an umbrella and you give her a thankful smile, before you grab it and hand it to Peggy.

“I promise I’ll do my best to avoid getting run over next time.” You turn to glare at her as you both walk towards the door, but she only smiles innocently at you.

“Well, rest up, English, and don’t forget the ice.” She nods at you and after giving your hand a little squeeze she walks through the door. You watch her open the umbrella and walk out into the street. When you turn back around Linda is leaning against the counter, her head resting on her hands that are propped up and she’s got a gigantic smirk on her face. You walk up to the counter and hiss out at her. “Don’t you dare open your mouth, Linda.” Somehow her smirk widens even more and the glint in her eyes is almost blinding.

 “Girl, you are in so much trouble with that one.” She snorts against her hand and then walks back into the kitchen. You rest your arms against the counter and then press your head against them. She’s right, of course, Peggy Carter is so much trouble and you’re without doubt falling for her.

 

 

IV.

The sound of someone walking through the door makes you raise your head quickly and when you sigh disappointedly you’re sure you can **hear** Linda rolling her eyes from the other end of the counter, where she’s being all disgustingly in love with Ana. And, okay, you already admitted to yourself how far deep you really are, you’ve had long conversations with Linda about it, she’s reminded you how cliché and painful unrequited loves are and told you to save yourself if you think that’s what is happening. You know she’s looking out for you and you appreciate her so much, but it’s also so hard to see beyond the way your heart races and you can’t help but smile whenever you see Peggy – especially when Linda has admitted, repeatedly, that she’s all for it, that you two would look beautiful together and how she has thought about double dates with herself, Ana, Peggy and you. You’ve cursed her for all of her lives after she put that image in your mind.

So, you’ve accepted that this feeling seems to be very much one sided at the moment, but you’re in such a good mood, you’ve been hopping around all day and the only way this day could get better is if Peggy showed up for breakfast rather than only after lunch when your shift is ending. So you’ve been sort of jumpy whenever someone walked into the automat and Linda has been making fun of you like the jerk she is.

You hear the door moving again but instead of looking at the door this time you look at Linda and to your surprise she’s nudging Ana and nodding towards the door. Your heartbeat speeds up before you even look at the door and when you do there she is, in a red coat and skirt – red is **so** her color.  You try very hard to contain yourself and to keep a somewhat neutral face, because you can feel Linda and Ana watching you and you don’t want to give them any more reasons to mock you. Then Peggy finds you after scanning the automat quickly and she’s smiling and you just feel your face completely open up in what you’re sure is a very bright smile. You hear Linda’s snort and Ana’s giggles and **great** , your ability to control your face is another thing Peggy Carter has ruined. You turn around to get Peggy’s usual breakfast when she starts walking towards the counter and also to try and get your heart to beat at a normal pace again. You hear Peggy greeting the girls with a _‘Morning, ladies’_ and Linda answering with a curt _‘Carter’_. She’s been getting more and more protective over your feelings for Peggy. You turn back and try for a normal smile.

“Morning, English, it’s not like you to be running late.” You place Peggy’s pie and cup of coffee on the counter before looking at her and you immediately curse your body for its reaction to her small smirk.

“I’m barely ten minutes late, Angie.” She grabs the cup and starts taking small sips, her eyes still locked on yours. You arch an eyebrow and lean against your side of the counter.

“I thought your punctuality would be something I could count on, you seem like the kind of person to take pride on it. Guess I was wrong.” Peggy narrows her eyes at you and pursues her lips, she actually puts down her cup to stare you down and you contain yourself for a few more seconds before letting out a chuckle. Peggy smiles softly right back.

“I do take pride in it, you’re not wrong.” She digs into her pie and studies you. “You’re in an especially good mood today.” You beam at her but before you can answer Linda taps your butt as she passes you and gets out from behind the counter.

“I’m going out back to the bathroom, hold the fort for a bit, okay?” You nod at her then roll your eyes when you look to the other end of the counter and realize that Ana has already headed out back. You know they don’t really care much anymore, but they still try to be as subtle as they can bother to be. You look back at Peggy and she’s got this grin on her face like she knows what’s happening and, **god** , you don’t want to wonder, you don’t want to imagine if it means that maybe Peggy’s done this sneaking around thing with other women before. Mostly because it gives you hope that this might not be completely one-sided, but also because you find yourself a little bit jealous of the women who could have had her.

“You won’t believe what happened last night, Peggy.” She immediately puts down her fork, crosses her arms and focuses her earnest gaze on you. It’s definitely one of your favorite things about her, how she’s so attentive. She wants to make sure the person she’s talking to knows that she cares about what they have to say. And you know Peggy can be closed off and a bit abrasive and dismissive depending on the situation, but when she cares about someone she makes sure to pay attention and to show it. You fall just a tad bit more deeply because of that. “I got a callback from one of my auditions!” Peggy’s whole face quite literally lights up and you want to grab it and smoosh your own face against hers. Instead you just laugh delightedly as she leans forward in excitement.

“Angie, that’s so wonderful! I’m so happy for you, I knew it’d happen sooner rather than later. You’re so talented, it was just a matter of time.” Peggy is literally bouncing around on her seat and you smile brightly at her.

“I mean, it’s just a callback for now, I gotta go and read again for them but I really think this is it, Peg. I think I can really get this role and if not at least be the understudy.” Peggy actually claps excitedly and you burst into laughter. She seems to have startled herself and she straightens up and stops bouncing around, but her smile is still enormous.

“That is so great. You deserve it.” You beam at her and before you can stop yourself you lean forward so you’re a lot closer to her.

“You’ll see, English, this is the beginning for me. In no time I’ll be able to invite you to have dinner at a place much nicer than here.” You meant for it to sound flirty, but it ends up coming out a lot more intimate and serious than you intended it to. Peggy’s brighter than usual blush is confirmation of that, and she smiles at you before looking down and pushing a curl of hair behind her hair.

“I’ll hold you to that.” It’s your turn to smile shyly and you nod at her as Peggy goes back to eating her food. Not even a minute later Ana walks from the back, looking as put together as always, her make-up intact. She gives you a smile and a little wave of her finger as she passes by.

“I’ll be coming around later to pick you and Linda up so we can celebrate, Angie.” You smile at her and wave back. Ana is really wonderful and you’re very happy she and Linda have each other and that you have them both.

Ana had barely walked out the door when Linda walks from the back, trying to smooth down her skirt. She makes her way around to stand behind the counter and she smirks at you and Peggy, you can see she’s about to make some kind of embarrassing remark, but your loud snort stops her. She frowns at you but you only reach forward and rub at a red lipstick mark on her jaw until it disappears. Peggy’s laughing quietly behind you, but Linda just pushes your hand away with a little smirk.

“Hey, Superstar, why don’t you go attend some tables while you’re still not a big shot actress?” She pinches your cheek before walking into the kitchen.

You smile at Peggy before walking out to attend a newly occupied table with an extra bounce in your step. Between having friends as amazing as Linda and Ana, a wonderful sister like Giulia, the possibility that you may be falling for a wonderful woman and now the chance that you might finally get a role on a play and get to follow your dreams – you feel like this is finally your time.

A few days later, after you go to the callback, you find out that it’s actually not your time yet when you don’t get chosen for the role or the understudy. You spend that night getting drunk with Ana and Linda on your room and you end up asleep in your bed with each of them cuddled up on one side of you.

When you tell Peggy the next day, followed by a practiced optimistic speech that you use often on your family, she walks behind the counter and wraps her arms around you very tightly, then simply walks back to her stool and tells you about how those fellas that work with her have been acting even more like a bunch of stupid clowns than usual. You have a hard time wrapping your head around the fact that each day she gets you to fall more and more for her.

 

 

 

V.

Teresa is literally a God-sent gift in your life, is basically the only thing running through your mind as you round the corner and rush towards the doors of the automat. You had some emergency family business to attend to urgently this morning – you’re sure that will sound much better to everyone than if you told them Giuseppe, your _mafioso_ cousin, got shot around here on an errand and you had to go check on him at the hospital, because you may have left Bensonhurst, but you have made peace with the fact that it might never leave you.  Teresa, the blessing that she is, was quick to reassure you she’d be there to start the shift with Linda and that you needn’t worry about anything but your family. _Pfft_ , if she only knew.

You arranged everything so that Giuseppe could get back to Little Italy safely and you could get back in time for the lunch rush. Teresa is one of the loveliest women you’ve ever met and you’d never leave her alone with that – also, it’s not like it was the first time you had to go get a family member from the hospital. You push through the doors completely out of breath, but it’s all worth it when you see the relieved look on Teresa’s face and the huge smile she sends your way.

“Hey, I’ll go change real quick and then I’ll get the tables so you can stay at the counter for a while.” You rush past her towards the back bathroom, stopping only to plant a little kiss on her cheek, her giggles follow you and you turn to smile at her. Linda has told you quite a few times that she’s sure Teresa carries a huge torch for you. She’s a beautiful, lovely woman, maybe if she had started working with you before Peggy showed up something could have happened, but now you just don’t want to ruin your friendship with her. You change in record time, taking the time to quickly fix your hair and make-up, and then exit the bathroom, walking to your first table while still tying your apron. 

The next hour or so is a rush of taking orders, serving the food, cleaning the tables and making small talk with the regular good tippers. You almost regret telling Teresa she could just stay at the counter, but you suppose you owed her. When it finally dies down, and you can stop waving through the tables, you walk towards the kitchen door where Linda and Teresa are talking. Before you even get there Linda gives you a small grin and nods towards the far away end of the counter. You’re not really surprised by how your heart jumps at the unexpected sight of Peggy, seated at the counter, nursing a cup of coffee and completely immersed on a piece of paper. You beam at Linda and she, unsurprisingly, rolls her eyes at you. You take the time to look at your reflection, fixing your hair and clothes before walking behind the counter and to Peggy.

“What you got there, English?” Peggy doesn’t even startle, she just looks up at you with a soft grin.

“Hello, Angie. I’m happy to see you survived the lunch rush in one piece, it looked insane.” You let out a little laugh and brace yourself in the counter, leaning towards her.

“It really must have been if I missed you walking in.” Peggy has stopped looking away every time you say something flirty, but pink still tinges her cheeks in a lovely shade.

“I was worried when I came this morning and you weren’t here. I actually thought I might’ve had mistaken your shift, but Teresa told me you’d be in for lunch. So I decided to stop by and see if everything’s okay.” You always heard girls use the word ‘swoon’ to describe how a guy made them feel and you never really understood it until now, because Peggy’s got you swooning. You feel like you could just melt into a puddle on the floor right now. “Is it? Everything okay?” You snap back to reality with a shake of your head.

“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s fine, just an unexpected family emergency. But it’s all good now.” She studies you for a minute, head tilted to the side, before she nods curtly. You give her an easy smile then points at the paper she’d been so focused on.

“Oh, this is a letter I received from my brother this morning. Just updating me on how things are back there in England.” You do a quick swipe of the, mostly vacated, automat and decide it’s safe to settle down for a bit.

“You got more family over there or is it just him?” Peggy stalls as she quietly folds the letter and puts it back on her purse, so you imagine this might be something she’s not comfortable talking about. You’re about to backpedal when she settles against the counter, a different glint in her eyes when she smiles at you.

“Christopher, my father and my grandmother are all still there.” She takes a deep breath and you have the impression that family is not something Peggy’s used to talking about, so you keep your mouth shut and just wait. “My mother and her parents died when I was still very young. Neither of my parents had any siblings, so most of my life was just the four of us.” You huff out a laugh at that.

“That gotta be nice. My dad’s got like a dozen brothers, and they all have a bunch of kids. A part of my old neighborhood is just for the Martinellis.” Peggy gets all quiet again and you’re afraid you said the wrong thing, which wouldn’t be surprising. “Tell me how it was growing up with them.” And that was apparently the **right** thing to say, because a smirk pulls at her lips immediately.

“Well, my grandmother is a military woman and my father a military man, they both fought at the First World War, so I’d say they valued freedom and discipline in almost equal parts. My brother’s only two years older than me so they always made a point of treating us equally, giving us both the same opportunities. Our grandfather died in that war and they raised us to know it was our responsibility to protect our country after that, so when the war broke… we all did our part.” You imagined Peggy could have come from a military family, it sounds like her and your respect for her increases as much as your fondness. “What about you? Your family was still in Italy during the First War?” You’ve learned from a young age to tread carefully on the subject of war with everyone, but Peggy genuinely seems like she only wants to know more about you.

“Yeah, they were. My dad and his brothers were too young to go to war with their dad and my _nonna_ Giovanna didn’t go to war but the war came to her. People kept trying to take over the more secured houses when the war was coming to an end, she was in one of them with her kids and, along with other six or seven house-women, she protected the house for months until _nonno_ came back. Not too long after that, they immigrated here.” Peggy looks genuinely surprised and impressed at that and you smile, very proud of the woman your _nonna_ was. “She was an incredible, courageous and kind woman and she, thankfully, raised me as much as my mother did. She died eight years ago.” You take a moment to swallow the lump on your throat, it’s been years and it still hurts so much. You push a smile through your lips. “You would have loved her, English.” Peggy smiles softly at you and grabs your hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting it go.

“Anyways, when the Second War broke my father and most of my uncles and cousins went and when they could so did my brothers.” You unconsciously grab your pen so you can have something to squeeze and keep your hands occupied. “When they signed up I wanted to go, too, because, you know, they were my little brothers and I was supposed to protect them, so I was going, too.” Peggy reaches forward and simply lays her hand on your arm, a silent sign of comfort and understanding, but you can’t really look at her. “But my mother wouldn’t allow me, she wanted me there to help her run the restaurant and keep the car shop running, said it’d be important it was all in order when they came back.” You lock your jaw tightly so you don’t scream at Peggy what you really think of your mother’s idea of important. Peggy looks worried so you relax your breath and put a grin on your face. “Turns out it was the right thing to do, I can’t imagine what would have happened if I’d let Giulia alone with my mother when she was so young. She would probably have gotten Giulia married before we were even back.” Peggy looks so incredibly confused it makes your smile just a little bit more genuine.

“How old is your sister?”

“She’s fourteen now.” “Peggy looks perplexed and you give her a sad, small smile even as you force your voice to sound perkier. “That’s how things go on Little Italy of Brooklyn, Pegs.” A little flash of recognition flashes through Peggy’s eyes and you freeze for a second before deciding to just finish this tale. “My father and my younger brother came back, but Marco, my older brother, didn’t and neither did many of our cousins. That’s when I decided it was time to leave and come after my dreams. Life’s too short and all of that.” You wave your hand around until Peggy grabs it and holds it tight.

“I’m so very sorry, Angie. For your brother and your grandmother and all your family.” You push back the tears that you feel coming and only nod your head quickly. You haven’t told anyone this much of the story since you met Linda.

“Yeah, me too. I mean, for your mom and I’m sure you’ve lost people, too.” Surprisingly **that** seems like the wrong thing to say. Peggy straightens up and gives you a tight smile before giving your hand a squeeze and letting it go. She puts a couple of bills on the counter and stands from her stool.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t notice the time, I really should go.” You gap at her and you must look like a very weird fish, because Peggy doesn’t simply bolt like you expected her to. She smiles a little before slowly grabbing her coat and her purse. “You’re going to be okay?” You nod slowly before also straightening up.

“Yes, of course, I’m fine. You should go back to work. I’ll see you soon, yeah?” Peggy nods with a more genuine smile and it takes a bit of the tension away from your shoulders.

“Of course. Bye, darling.” The term of endearment catches you completely off guard and you watch wide-eyed as she walks away, giving Teresa and Linda a little wave before going out. They walk quickly to you and they both look a little worried.

“You okay, Superstar?” Linda touches your arm gently and you look at her in what you feel like is slow-motion. You look between them for a couple seconds before a grin starts forming on your lips.

“She called me ‘darling’.” They stare at you before looking at each other and bursting out in laughter.

“I wish Ana was here to see your face, she’s gonna love this one.”  You simply flip Linda off and lean back against the counter, a huge smile on your face. “She’ll specially love the part about how Carter came back because she didn’t get to see you in the morning.” Teresa nods along to that and you feel like your smile is gonna break your face in half.

“She did do that, didn’t she?” They both hum little _‘Mhmm’_ s and laugh at you before walking away. You think about that and the fact that Peggy, willingly, peeled back another one of her layers for you throughout the rest of the day. Not even the girls for the next shift arriving half an hour late were able to upset you.

 

 

VI.

The automat is slowly emptying out as the time to close up nears, only a few people are left nursing their coffees or finishing their dinner. Not that those people are any of your business, your shift ended almost eight hours ago and you’ve been just hanging around, reading some scripts and helping Linda out and worrying. Peggy didn’t show up for breakfast and she didn’t show after lunch and it made you realize that you have no way of checking up on her, you don’t know where she lives, you don’t know where to call and you’re worried – **again**. The only place you two exist together is in this automat, so you decided to stick around, just in case.

You’ve spent the best part of eight hours sitting behind the counter and staring at the door, as if by the sheer power of your will Peggy would just materialize there. Linda and Teresa poked fun at you throughout your whole shift, but when Teresa left after her shift was done she looked worried and gave you a tight hug and Linda has been constantly checking up on you. You guess the last time, when Peggy showed up pretty roughed up, got them pretty worried, too.

The girls start cleaning up the tables and putting everything away and you can hear Linda cleaning up the kitchen, so you decide to stick around and get a ride with her and Ana. The girls leave when they are done and you start getting your things together so you’re ready to leave when Linda is, and then there’s a knock at the locked door. You’re startled because, even though there’s never been any robbery at the L&L while you’ve been here, you’ve heard stories from the other waitresses. Linda pokes her head out of the kitchen and you both look at each other before walking closer to the door. When you get close enough to recognize the person outside your heart speeds up at the same time your stomach coils in anger. You want to scream at Peggy through the door and then just leave her out there, but you don’t because she’s got a bleeding cut on her eyebrow and it makes you wonder what other injuries you can’t see yet.

“You can finish up in the kitchen and then go, I’ll close up before I leave.” You feel Linda staring at you, but you keep your eyes locked in what you can see of Peggy’s face, which is mostly soft eyes and a sheepish smile. Linda asks if you’re sure and when you nod she leaves without further questions.

You take a deep breath and try to get a grip on your emotions, because she’s fine, Peggy is mostly in one piece and you want to strangle her a little bit, even though you’re sure it’s really not your place at all. You unlock the door and give her some space to walk through it. She’s clutching her hands together and she seems mostly fine aside from her eyebrow.

“Another umbrella? It’s been days since it last rained.” She grimaces at your deadpan dig, but doesn’t react beyond that.

“I, uh- I was only passing by to get a number with Linda so I could call you to let you know I was okay. I didn’t expect you to be here, your shift was this morning.” She looks confused, a bit like the puppy you used to have when you were younger, but you’re still wanting to give her a smack down too much to be charmed by it.

“I didn’t have anything to do so I decided to stay with Linda.” Peggy smiles like she knows what you really mean, like she knows you were waiting for her, that you were worried. You huff and point at one of the booths. “Sit down and I’ll go get the first-aid box, **again**.” You go to the kitchen and Linda is there, all ready to go, and she looks at you with a tilt of her head and you understand her question. You hug her tightly and just whisper a soft,  _‘Go’,_ to her. She waits until you grab the box and then walks out with you, takes a good look at Peggy then just speaks over her shoulder.

“Glad to see you’re mostly in one piece, Carter. Maybe next time you could ring us.” You smile at that and see Peggy’s grinning, too.

“Thanks for worrying, Linda, have a good night.” Linda waves her hand behind her and walks out. Peggy turns back to you and her smile softens immediately. You sigh and go sit beside her on the booth. You grab her face to take a good look at the cut and it actually doesn’t look as bad as last time.

“I’m beginning to think you like it when I have to patch you up.” You start cleaning up the cut and you can feel Peggy’s eyes locked on yours.

“Maybe I do.” Well, that’s new, you’re not used to Peggy flirting back and it gives you pause. You narrow your eyes at her, but she just keeps on smiling.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t deep or you’d get a scar on your pretty face.” You place a couple of butterfly stitches on the cut then put everything away.

“You seem to be quite used to doing this.” You want to laugh at that, because talk about an understatement, but you just nod as you get up.

“I’ve done my share of patching up, yeah.” All the cuts you have treated on your cousins and brother come to mind. You feel her eyes following you as you go to the kitchen to put away the box and when you return Peggy is analyzing you intently. The thought of just letting her go out there again, where there’s someone who’s clearly hurting her, makes you feel like throwing up, so you hold up a finger to her and rush to the back. You pass through the lockers until you find Linda’s, you take out a hair pin from your hair and make quick work on the lock to open it. The bottle of scotch is stashed away on the back, like you knew it would be, and you decide you’ll just borrow it and buy Linda a new one.

When you walk back with the bottle Peggy looks at you with raised eyebrows and a small smirk. You ignore her until you sit back beside her, open the bottle, take a big swig, without grimacing, then hand it to her. Out of the corner of your eye you can see she looks surprised and you allow yourself a small grin. Living and working for years with so many men and women, in the line of business your family is in, meant a lot of drinking just to get through the stuff you had to do. And then another load of drinking just for the fun of it, after hours of working at the restaurant or at the car shop with your dad. The sound of Peggy gulping down mouthfuls of the scotch makes you tilt your head to look at her and you can’t really say you’re surprised that she’s also a good drinker.

“So, you gonna tell me what really happened this time?” Peggy simply hands the bottle back to you and gives you this look and you can’t really decipher what is behind the resolute _‘No’_ , but you’re sure there’s something there. You huff and puff a bit before chugging down two mouthfuls. “Linda’s moving out of the place we live.” Peggy turns towards you and presses her back against the wall, all of her attention on you. “She’s going to live with Ana.” A huge smirk appears on her face.

“You mean her girlfriend who I see around here every day?” You freeze with the bottle on your lips and Peggy laughs that wonderful, bubbly laugh. “They’re not as subtle as they may think.” You nod mid-chug, refusing to let your mind wonder what it means that she’s being so casual about it, and pass her the bottle.

“I’ve told them that.” She laughs again and you take the time to watch her while she’s drinking. You’ve never really seen Peggy so relaxed before. She’s messily drinking, slouched against the wall, none of that proper posture and poise that she usually has and you bask at the knowledge that she’s like this when it’s just the two of you alone. “But yeah, Ana’s like from a super rich family and she’ll finish law school this year.” The impressed look on Peggy’s face is somewhat ruined by the bottle glued to her lips. “So she got them a house and they’ll start their life together.”

“That’s really wonderful.” She sounds genuinely happy for them and Peggy’s an infuriating woman, yes, but she’s also really lovely and kind, and you wish you were at least tipsy so you could excuse the urge you feel to reach out and grab her hand.

“Yeah, I’ll miss Linda a lot, but we’re still going to work together every day and they’re both really happy and great together.” Peggy’s hand rubbing your arm just makes you feel really glad that you can at least blame the pink on your cheeks on the alcohol. She passes the bottle back to you and you’re happy to occupy your hands before you do something stupid. “They’re organizing a party for this Saturday, Linda told me to invite you.” She worries her lip between her teeth and you already know the answer.

“I’ll see how’s my schedule.” The next swig feels more bitter than the others and you give her a nod before putting the bottle on the table.

“Right.” You can hear how petulant your voice sounds, but you’ve never been good at pretending you’re not upset when you are.

“You know I thought about you today.” You’re sure Peggy means it as a statement rather than a flirtatious sentence, but it’s not your fault her accent makes everything sound so appealing. A raised eyebrow and a low humming are the only reactions you allow yourself. She reaches for the bottle and tugs at the label before taking a swig. “I heard some news about how strong some anti-Italianism movements still are in England.”  Your father and uncles had told you that they were very lucky to have come so many years ago to the U.S., so when the war broke they were naturalized citizens, or they might have ended up in internment camps like many other Italians who were considered threats. Instead of spitting out that bit of information you simply wait to hear Peggy’s point. “I am just glad we’re here and not there, or we might’ve not been able to do this.” That statement makes you turn completely towards her, you bring one leg up to sit on it while your arm rests on the back of the seat. You pull the bottle from her hands, giving her a smirk.

“What? You telling me you wouldn’t ignore some social conventions and prejudices to be here with me, English? I’m offended.” Over the top of the bottle you see Peggy’s smile and you swear she slides a bit closer to you while you drink from it.

“Oh, I certainly would, but there would have to be quite a bit more hiding, I suppose.” The double-meaning is resonant in your head and you feel your head spin and your throat go dry.

“How very Romeo and Juliet.” Peggy throws her head back in laughter that is even more messy and bubbly from the alcohol. When she looks back down at you, her eyes running over your face, you feel her knee pressing up against your leg and your eyes lock onto the point of contact. Stockings become your favorite and most hated piece of clothing in that moment, because you’re not sure how you’d react to the touch of bare skin and you sort of want to find out.

When you finally look up your eyes fixate on Peggy’s red lips, the way she keeps gnawing on them with her teeth. She shifts, leaning forward slightly and your eyes snap to hers, you see the way they jump from your lips to your eyes and back again.  At the same time you lean forward, you stretch your arm to place the bottle on the table. It ends up at the corner of the table, only half on top of it and it crashes down to the floor when you let it go with every intention to bring your hand to Peggy’s face. Peggy pulls back and blinks her eyes in quick succession and you hurriedly get up, letting out an angry _‘Porco Dio!’_ before rushing to the kitchen to get a rag. When you get back Peggy is kneeling on the ground gathering the biggest pieces of the bottle, luckily there wasn’t much scotch left in it.

“I think I’ll have to brush up on my Italian to be around you.” She seems completely unfazed and you wonder if you had imagined the whole thing. You crouch down on the other side of the mess and start cleaning it.

“That’s not something you want to learn how to say. My mom would have been mad if she heard me.” The smirk you give her makes something flash in her eyes and you’re certain it wasn’t all your imagination. “This will do for now, I’ll clean it better tomorrow morning. It’s getting late.” You rush to the kitchen and dump the rag on a bucket with water. You take the time to take a deep breath and calm your still racing heart, because you were about to kiss Peggy Carter and you’re pretty sure she was about to kiss you back – Linda will certainly have a great laugh with this one.

Peggy’s already got her coat on and is standing by the door when you come back. It takes you only a minute to get your things and make sure all the windows are locked and the blinds are shut. You walk out after her and lock everything up.

“Can I walk you home?” The absolute worst thing for you in all of this is how genuine Peggy is about how she worries and how she cares, it makes it so hard to not fall for her with no way back from it.

“Actually, I should take a cab or I’ll get there past curfew.” You roll your eyes and the tension in your shoulders melts away when Peggy laughs. She moves closer until she’s standing right beside you.

“I’ll wait with you if you don’t mind, then?” The smile and nod you give her seem to ease away her own tension and you two fall in a comfortable silence. Only a couple of minutes later a cab turns the corner and before you can move Peggy is signaling it over. At your raised eyebrow she just shrugs and smiles. She opens the door for you then grabs your arm when you move towards it. “Thank you for patching me again and for the rest of the night, Angie.” It completely catches you off guard when she leans forward and plants a soft kiss on your cheek.

“Anytime.” You’re surprised by how much you mean it, but you really do, even if she never tells you whatever really happened, you’ll never turn her away. “Good night, Peg.” You settle into the backseat after she murmurs _‘Good night’_ back and closes the door. The driver moves after you give him the address and you lean your head back on the seat with a deep sigh. Peggy and you had almost kissed, it would have happened if you weren’t so clumsy. You’re kind of glad you are, though, you’re already in way too deep and Peggy’s full of secrets and looks that mean more than you can understand. It’s not the smartest idea to get into a relationship with someone who won’t even tell you where they really work and you’re far from stupid. But you want to keep her in your life, you like her way too much not to, you’re sure you could be just friends with her. All you really know is that you’re very glad you’ll already be sort of tipsy when you start this conversation with Linda and Ana at the Griffith.

 

 


End file.
